March 2005

This February I took a trip to California where I visited 4 churches.

Covenant Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, California: This is a vibrant and diverse church. Probably St Columba’s scaled up about 4 times. It had the first fairtrade stall I have seen in the USA. This is significant: we who are used to drinking Cuban orange juice and cooking with Palestinian olive oil sometimes forget how blessed and how subversive it is to have a connexion to those who grow our food beyond merely ‘everyday low prices’. Read the rest of this entry »

St. John’s Parish is in the news again today, in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The complete article is on Worcester Indymedia; here’s the intro:

Vigil to focus on homeless
By Martin Luttrell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Friends of a homeless man who died sleeping in a church garage last week say there are not enough services for the homeless, and they plan to hold a vigil in front of City Hall a week from today to remember him and raise awareness of the need for services.

Bobby was in the unheated church garage because he did not feel safe (according to the paper) at the city’s main shelter, the PIP. This raises a couple of questions. (1) What kinds of living conditions do we owe those to whom we offer hospitality? (2) What is going on when someone would rather spend the winter in an unheated garage rather than a homeless shelter?

St. John’s does a lot of good work, and I hope their efforts are not hindered by this wannabe-scandal.

I wish the article had included more specific suggestions on what the city should do, or what individuals should do other than “raise awareness.”

Some say the only good things to come out of Ireland are James Joyce and Lucky Charms. Add to that reports of the Pitstop Ploughshares trial in Dublin. This trial combines antiwar activism, Irish constitutional law (should a neutral country help the US wage war?), and, from today’s reports, lots of arguments over what evidience is even admissible. Featuring reportage from both Irishmen and Americans.

Update: The trial ended in a mistrial. Now it’s up to the State to decide if they will be tried again.

Welcome. Here, have a cup of coffee. The pie is optional.

Sugar? No. That’s okay.

Hold on a minute, would you? I’ll be right back.